Re: MPAA and copy protection.
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FCC To Rule On Copy Protection
Technology Dispute
Updated: Tue, Sep 05 09:20 AM EDT
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by Rory J. O'Connor, Inter@ctive Week
The Federal Communications Commission could rule as early as Sept. 14
in a dispute over the home recording of digital television programs. The
movie industry has been at loggerheads for months with makers of
high-definition television (HDTV) sets, VCRs and cable set-top boxes
over how copy protection technology will be implemented in digital
cable systems. For consumers, the FCC's ruling will decide which digital
programs they can and can't record.
Led by the Motion Picture Association of America, copyright holders
want the FCC to require that circuitry be built into nearly every digital
TV device - receivers, VCRs and set-top boxes - that will prevent
recording programs carrying copy protection information set by the
program's owner. Negotiations between the MPAA and electronics
manufacturers broke down early this year, and on April 14 the FCC,
which had hoped the two parties could reach an agreement, said it
"reluctantly" would make the decision. With a Sept. 7 deadline for public
input, the group representing the electronics makers launched an
advertising and public relations campaign Aug. 31 to tip the proceedings
in its favor.
The Home Recording Rights Coalition, representing electronics makers
and retailers, said that any such protection should stop at the cable
system interface box, or pod, outside customers' homes.
Once a consumer has paid for a program, the cable provider should
make the signal available to any TV set or VCR connected to the box.
The HRRC said the MPAA plan would render the existing crop of very
expensive HDTV sets incapable of viewing many digital programs.
The HRRC also wants the FCC to institute regulations limiting copy
protection to pay-per-view events such as boxing matches or
video-on-demand programs such as recently released movies.
Otherwise, the rights consumers now have to record TV programs on
VCRs "would be taken away."
Those are the very kind of programs the MPAA said it wants to protect
- but by controlling the copying process via technology. It believes an
open signal to a VCR would make the risk of widespread copying of hot
movies far outweigh the potential profit from broadcasting the material.
The MPAA said it doesn't want to destroy the ability of consumers to
"time-shift," or record a program for later viewing. "We want to make
sure that [the device] has the ability to provide copy protection, but it
doesn't mean all product running into the box won't be able to be
copied," said Fritz Attaway, executive vice president and Washington
general counsel at the MPAA. "The vast majority of content won't be
copy-protected, and the marketplace requires the ability to time-shift."
An FCC official said the agency's long-standing policy is that copyright
holders have the right to protect their works, and consumers have
rights to home recording for time-shifting purposes. Any standard that
would block all copying of programs would be inconsistent with those
principles, the official said. |
